“We know Chicago’s a sports town — we hope to make it a film town for at least part of the year,” fest founder and artistic director Michael Kutza said shortly after 40,000 competitors in the Chicago Marathon ran by on Sunday during the awards ceremony.

Fest attendance has proved remarkably strong despite citywide fervor for the Cubs, who haven’t got this far in the baseball playoffs since 1945. One of the two fest theaters, the Music Box, is only a few blocks from Wrigley Field, within the radius where parking spots are going for as much as $100.

Fest tributes included a lifetime achievement award to Robert Benton, whose “The Human Stain” opened the fest Oct. 2; a career achievement nod to Robert Downey Jr. and an excellence in filmmaking award to Taye Diggs, this edition’s Black Perspectives honoree.

Although the Cubs were playing a home game, 600 people turned out for a screening of Roger Ebert’s signature pick: Yasijiro Ozu’s 1932 silent classic “I Was Born, But …” with one of Japan’s leading “benshi,” Sawato Midori, performing voice characterizations of all the roles. Ebert was in fine form at his first public appearance following hospitalization for an ongoing medical condition.

Reps from distribs including Palm Pictures, New Yorker Films, Wellspring Media and Manhattan Pictures hit Chicago in search of acquisitions. Paris-based sales agent Claude Nouchi of MGI Intl. came to town to prospect for a U.S. distrib for Fipresci winner “Olga’s Chignon,” which has already sold to 20 territories.

Fest runs through Thursday, with the Audience Choice award to be tallied at the end. Closing night pic is Billy Ray’s “Shattered Glass.”